Wire tongs



May 23, 1950 J. J. HABECK WIRE TONGS Filed April 30, 1947 Jo JEPH J av [Av-M,

ATTGRNBYS Tatented May UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,508,823 WIRE ToNGs Joseph J. Habeck, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application April 30, 1947, Serial No. 744,964

5 Claims. (Cl. 294-99) My invention relates to improvements in wire tongs.

.The object of my invention is to provide inexpensive and conveniently applicable tongs, particularly adapted for culinary purposes, such as the lifting of pickles, olives, or similar articles from receptacles, and for turning articles that are being fried, etc., but also adapted, when made of heavier wire, to be used for other purposes.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved wire tongs, with dotted lines indicating their gripping position.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing modified gripping members.

Figure 3 is a similar view showing a, second modification, in which the gripping members are spoon shaped.

Figure 4 is a sectional view drawn to line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2, showing a third modification.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

A single piece of resilient wire is intermediately folded upon itself to form an eye-shaped hanger I and a pair of legs A and B having divergent free end portions II and 23 which constitute the gripping arms of the tongs. Between these gripping arms and the eye-shaped hanger ID the leg A has a straight portion I3, a laterally extending U-shaped or V-shaped handle portion I4, and another straight portion I connected with the tong arm I I.

In the construction illustrated, the leg B extends from the eye ID in the form of an open helical spring coil I6 having about eight turns around the portion I3 of the member A. It is then closely coiled at I! about the portion l3 at its junction with the laterally extending handle l4 and extends laterally in the opposite direction in the form of a similar U-shaped, or V-shaped, hande I9, on the return side of which it is again closely coiled about the portion I5 at its junction with the handle I4. From the coil 20 the leg B has a portion 2| extending parallel to the portion I5 to a point where it is for a third time closely coiled at 22 about the member l5 at its junction with tong arm I I. From this coil 22 the member B extends in the form of a gripping tong arm 23 normally divergent from the tong arm I I.

The close coils I'I, 2|] and 22 serve as pivotal connections between the legs A and B at their junction with the tong arms II and 23 and at both sides of the members I4 and I9. The

handles I4 and I9 are normally obliquely divergent, and, when pressed together, toward each other, as indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1, will swing the tong arms II and 23 toward gripping position. The free end portions of the arms I l and 2-3 are curved to allow their extremities to be brought into point contact with each other, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 1, when an object to be lifted is not interposed.

The resilience of the coil It restores the handle portions I 4 and I9 and the tong arms II and 23 to their normal spread position as soon as manual pressure upon the handles I l and I9 is released.

In Figure 2 I have illustrated tong arms I Ia and 23a, the extremities of which are provided with eye-shaped loops 25 and 26 respectively.

In Figures 3 and 4 I have illustrated a further modification in which the tong arms I lb and 231) have spoon-shaped extremities 21 and 2,8, and in Figure 5 the free ends of the tong arms are forked as shown at 29. It will therefore be understood that the extremities of the tong arms may have any desired shape in accordance with the character of the articles to be gripped or lifted, and in Figure 5 the tips of the gripping arms are forked as indicated at 32.

I claim:

1. Tongs composed of a single piece of resilient wire bent upon itself intermediate of its ends to form a pair of legs having oppositely extending handle portions, and divergent end portions adapted to serve as gripping arms, one of the legs being openly coiled about the other between the intermediate bend and the gripping arms and closely coiled about said other leg at each side of the handle arms and at its junction with its gripping arm to provide pivotal connections between the legs.

2. Tongs composed of a piece of wire bent to form a pair of legs having normally divergent gripping arms and provided with obliquely divergent handles, said legs being pivotally connected with each other on opposite sides of the handles, and adjacent their junction with the gripping arms, and one of the legs having a resilient portion coiled helically about the other leg to place the gripping arms under spring tension normally holding them in divergent position.

3. Tongs comprising a pair of wire legs con nected with each other at one end and having normally divergent gripping arms at the other end, each of said legs having an intermediate handle normally obliquely divergent from the handle on the other leg, said legs being pivotally connected with each other on opposite sides of the handles and adjacent to the gripping arms, one of the legs being formed as an open helix about the other leg and adjacent the connections between the legs to form spring means for normally holding the handles and gripping arms in Widely divergent positions, said legs, handles, and gripping arms being composed of a single piece of wire folded upon itself at the end distant from the gripping arms.

4. Tongs composed of a single piece of resilient wire intermediately folded upon itself to form an eye-shaped hanger and one leg portion provided with a laterally extending loop adapted to serve as an operating handle and a curved laterally extending free end adapted to serve as a gripping arm, said leg being otherwise substantially straight, and the other leg having an open helical coil about a straight portion of the first mentioned leg, an operating handle similar to that of the first mentioned leg and obliquely divergent therefrom and a pluralityof close coils about the first mentioned leg, adapted to pivotally con'nect the legs for oscillation about their a es 'in opposition to the resilient urge of the helically coiled portion.

Tongs eornposed of a single piece of resilient wire folded upon itself intermediate its ends to form a hanger and with one leg portion provided with a lateral loop adapted to serve as an operating handle and a lateral free end adapted to serve as a gripping arm, said leg being otherwise substantially straight, and with another leg portion having an open helical coil about a straight portion of the first said leg and provided with a lateral loop adapted to serve as an operating handle and obliquely divergent from the handle of the first said leg portion and having a plurality of coils closely about the first mentioned leg for pivotally connecting the legs for oscillation about their axes, the open coil portion of the second said leg urging the legs about their axis for separating the gripping arms.

JOSEPH J. HABE'CK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 881,056 Cheesman Mar. 3, 1908 1,197,801 Curry Sept. 12, i916 2,127,947 Weiss Aug. 23, 1938 2,207,315 Dodd et. a1. July 9, 1940 

